A whole new world
by BaltaineShadow
Summary: Instead of Ron Weasley being the first to meet Harry Potter on the train, it is Draco Malfoy. How does Harry's world change when he follows his new friend into Slytherin instead of Gryffindor? Challenge on The Hidaway - June Quill Contest


This little story I started because of a Challenge on http : / . com/

Instead of Ron Weasley being the first to meet Harry Potter on the train, it is Draco Malfoy. How does Harry's world change when he follows his new friend into Slytherin instead of Gryffindor?

Sooo... this is my idea of what would have happened.

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**PART 1**

Harry dragged his heavy trolley, which those weird twins had helped him get in the train trough the long, narrow corridor of the Hogwarts Express. He couldn't believe he was finally on the thing… after Hagrid had obviously forgotten to tell him how to find the stupid platform. He sighed, tired beyond belief… he hadn't slept much last night, he was way too excited at the prospect of getting off to the School his parents had gone to. And then his so-called relatives had simply abandoned him at King's Cross… how very nice of them. And now he couldn't find an empty compartment. And the older students flat out frightened him.

Then he saw a small blonde and pale boy sitting alone in a compartment with two other boys who somehow resembled gorillas. Harry mustered up all of his remaining courage and opened the compartment door. "Hey… everywhere else is full. Would you mind me sitting here?"

The blond boy – Harry now remembered briefly meeting him at Madam Malkin's – raised an eyebrow and looked Harry up from head to toes. Harry blushed furiously, aware of the boy's fine and expensive clothes and his own hand-me-downs, curtsy of Dudley-the-whale. "What is your status? You didn't tell me when we briefly met at Madam Malkin's." the boy drawled. Harry looked confused. What did that mean? Was there an illness in the wizarding world Harry didn't know about as of yet? Or what else did the boy mean?

"Come again? What do you mean by my 'status'?" Harry asked.

"Your blood-status, what else? Where both of your parents children of wizards? How long where both your family-lines consisting of only wizards?" the boy asked again.

"Oh… uhm… I'm not sure. I was raised by my aunt… she's not magical, though. But my mum was, before Voldemort killed her and dad." Harry wasn't sure what this was about. Perhaps they would send him home now? Wasn't he good enough for the school because his blood wasn't… purely magical?

The boy's eyes widened. "What was your name again?" he asked. His eyes strayed to Harry's forehead, as if trying to see something… like the scar in shape of a lightning bolt…

"I don't think it's very nice of you to first make inquiries about my blood and then not even apologizing for it… I'm not so sure I want to sit with you anymore…" Harry turned to leave.

"Wait! I'm sorry for the way I behaved. I'm Draco Malfoy, in case you have forgotten. Would you now tell me your name, please?" suddenly the boy was being all pleasant to him, even offering Harry his hand to shake and seal them being acquainted to each other or some sort of thing. Well… that was new: normally everyone would make fun of him and even attempt to beat him up – again, curtsy to cousin-Dudley-the-whale.

For a moment Harry considered his options: Going and loosing potential friends who were really well off, as it seemed, and having to find someplace else to stay for the time of the ride, or staying, getting acquainted with Draco Malfoy – who somehow resembled Dudley in XS-size – and probably not being the looser of the year, the kid without a single friend. He decided to stay and see how this turned out to be… "I'm Harry Potter, nice to meet you." He met Draco's hand halfway.

Harry's trunk was pulled in and stuffed in the luggage rack. He sat next to Draco and was introduced to Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle (the gorillas). Then the three boys told Harry some things about the wizarding world… like that there were people and there were PEOPLE – Draco counted himself among PEOPLE and, funnily enough, told Harry he belonged there as well. He held a great deal of influence because he was the boy-who-lived. When he said something, for example about the Dark Lord, people would listen and many would just nod and accept his words as facts. And as a Potter, the last living in the wizarding world, he had money… and estates. A lot of money…! Harry was stunned. So much information… what to do what to do? Learn as much about his inheritance and possibilities as humanly possible. Staying with Draco, Vincent and Gregory proved to be the right decision so far.

With all the interesting talk time flew by and soon they were standing in the Great Hall. Soon they would be sorted into their houses. Harry hoped the Hat (the three boys had told him all about the Sorting, seeing as Harry knew absolutely nothing about it… not even about the houses or the Founding Four) would place him with Draco, Vincent and Gregory. This way he would be able to find his place in the wizarding world a lot easier. They had, after all, promised to tutor him about customs, ways of talking and Latin… many customs had their roots in this old language, so being able to talk in it would be rather helpful later on. He also wanted to learn Greek, Italian, French and German. Most pureblooded high-society children spoke many languages… this slight disadvantage Harry would have to take care of. Draco's father had many business partners abroad and it was always impressive if you were able to hold a conversation in the language of your partner.

All in all Harry hoped to be in Slytherin now. All of Draco's friends – save Gregory and Vincent… and Harry, if he dared to be bold and consider himself to be Draco's friend – were in that house. And the boy's godfather was the Head of House. So… Harry really wanted to be sorted there. Also, a tiny childish voice offered, their symbol was a snake. And snakes were cool. They could, after all, talk. Lions, griffins and badgers never tried to talk to Harry. Only the boa in the London Zoo had talked to Harry.

In the end all his worries were for naught: The Hat was pleased to see Harry so willing to join the Snakes and send him right there. At first the hall fell deathly quiet, then, lead by Draco, Gregory and Vincent, Slytherin table erupted in cheers such as "We have Potter!"

For the first time in ten years Harry felt like he was home.

And, as he found out fast enough, Draco had been right. When he said something against Voldemort, people tended to listen, even the Slytherins, of whom many had been taught by their parents that the Dark Lord was right, that "Mudbloods" shouldn't be allowed to enter their world at all, that Muggles were weak and should be the slaves of wizards, listened. Most of those willing followers of Voldemort saw reason and finally saw this Lord of theirs for what he truly seemed to be: A murderer – Harry would certainly never forgive this raving lunatic for killing his parents and by thus forcing him to live with his horrible relatives – and liar – Muggle were neither daft nor weak… they would find ways to fight wizards and there were far more of them than of the magical population of the world. They had to see, that Muggleborn students weren't worse in school than pureblooded students – the Gryffindor Hermione Granger just proved Harry's point.

And so life went on in Hogwarts with Harry gradually feeling safer around the other Snakes. Of course, just because he started talking and giving other people a piece of his mind never meant that he already knew what was crucial information needed to progress into a certain intended direction – here making the Slytherins realize that they and their precious pureblood ideals weren't superior by any means – and what was not. After a few 'slips' Harry made concerning his less than nice relatives and his upbringing by their oh-so-forgiving hands young Draco decided that it definitively wouldn't do his new friend and ally Harry any good to ever return to them. He considered asking Harry to go to their Head of House, his godfather Severus Snape. Well… Harry wasn't exactly sure Professor Snape would let him survive the visit to his office, as far as Draco knew, and so Draco went to the office alone. Without telling his friend about his plans.

It actually did take Draco some time to make his beloved godfather realize just how dire and life-threatening the situation was for Harry, him being starved and all and having to grow up in a cupboard. In the end the man believed Draco and they collected Harry. At first the boy felt betrayed. Then though he realized what kind of opportunity he was facing: Never to have to return to his aunt, uncle and cousin … dared he dream of it? Yes. Professor Snape proved to be simply misunderstood – potion accidents often turned out to be lethal so his behavior in the classroom simply reflected on his ambition to not lose a student on his watch. Harry politely reminded his Head of House that some people might be so scared that they made even more mistakes this way than they would if their teacher was stern but nice instead of downright scary.

The end of it was that Professor Snape would think about the things Harry had said and that Harry would from now on live with the Malfoy's. To top it off the Dursley's lost custody of Dudley and avoided going into prison just narrowly. Still, they were totally destroyed in the eyes of the puplic for Draco's father had dragged the whole story into the Muggle-news (as much as he detested Muggles, as much did he love his son … and the Potter boy was a valuable asset if his family wanted to change sides in this war. After all, the Dark Lord had lost once to an infant. What would the boy do to Voldemort should he ever return? It was way better to be on Harry Potter's good, no, best side in this war and emerge as winner.) and so now everyone knew about the Dursley's and their hideous treatment of their defenseless, innocent nephew. All that was left to do was for Harry to firmly state that he wished to be placed under the Malfoy's protection and he was free of his relatives. Forever. Then they politely but firmly for an investigation concerning Harry's wrongful placement with the Dursley's – Draco's mother had found out about an existing will of Harry's parents which was never opened previously. Inside said will she found out that the child never should have gone to his aunt but instead to her cousin, Sirius, or to the Longbottom's. Also it stated quite firmly who their Secret Keeper had been, should anything unexpected happen to them. It hadn't been Sirius… but Peter Pettigrew. Funnily enough Lucius swore to her that this man had been one of the Dark Lord's most trusted henchmen and had spied on Dumbledore's bird friends. The testament was signed by the Potter's (Lily and James) and several witnesses: One goblin from Gringotts, the Longbottom's (Alice and Frank), Sirius Black and – surprise, surprise – Albus Dumbledore. That old codger had known what James and Lily had wanted – or rather not – for their little boy in case something happened to them. Which it had. But Dumbledore had obviously ignored their wishes and by thus placed a child knowingly in danger. For Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy there couldn't be a greater crime. Next to Dumbledore's blatant disregard of the Potter-will there was also the matter of a probable wrongful imprisonment of Narcissa's cousin. Lucius would talk the Minister into giving the man a trial after all these years. Perhaps they were lucky and there was some sanity left in Sirius Black.

And while the elder Malfoy's happily plotted away the children had the time of their life. Harry proved to be quite apt at learning languages and soon could hold a shaky conversation in Latin and Greek, his French and German was coming along nicely and Italian as well. He had learned most customs of their demanding society and didn't step on the girl's feet anymore during his dancing lessons. He seemed to be a natural flyer and would one day be a force to be reckoned with as a leader. When he spoke he did it with a passion that had other people want to believe and follow him. So when he thought something was off about their Defense Professor the Slytherins started to observe every move the man made and before long agreed with Harry. Also there was the whole matter with the Philosopher's stone. As soon as the boys had found out about it they had written their parents (ok… so Gregory and Vincent hadn't, but they didn't like letters all that much either) and soon an enraged Lucius Malfoy way striding through the corridors of Hogwarts to yell – YELL – at the Headmaster about trying to lure Voldemort into a school full of children and probably trying to get Harry involved just to test his capacity or some such nonsense. Without further ado he called a troop of Auror's to the school in investigate matters (and Quirrell as well, just to make sure) and remove the potential threat from the school, which they did. The so-called traps (not counting Severus' which they found mildly annoying as it took them longest to get around this little riddle of his) were deemed ridiculous and easy to get around (the chess set was simply blasted away, same with the troll, the door and the plant). Quirrell was an entirely different matter… something was indeed 'off about him'… the man was hosting the Dark Lord in his body and had his face growing out of his head. They were just lucky that neither the Dark Lord nor Quirrell were expecting to be found out before Halloween. The fight didn't take five minutes and then Voldemort and his willing host were taken down. Of course the Dark Lord wasn't one to be taken captive – he immediately gave up his host when he noticed they wouldn't win the fight. To the surprise of everyone in the room Quirinius Quirrell died as soon as the spirit of his master left his body. To even the odds the Dark Lord in his now non-corporal form shoot through the body of one of the Aurors – the unsuspecting woman died just as quickly as Quirrell had.

Well. After that Harry and his friends absolutely enjoyed their time until Christmas. Classes were from time to time hard but mostly fun. Just a few days before Christmas Harry, Draco, Vincent and Gregory sat in the Hogwarts Express for the second time in their life. Narcissa and Lucius wanted their boys, now that they had Harry under their protection as well, home for the holidays. They needed to get to know Harry after all, having never really met the boy before. Seeing each other on pictures certainly didn't count. Both parties, parents and foster-child, were incredibly nervous. Only Lucius who spent so much time with his wife could tell how incredibly nervous Narcissa was when the couple waited at King's Cross. She constantly changed her hold on her purse or tried to fix her (neat) hair. At least she managed to refrain from worrying her lips.

Then the train pulled in the station. Finally. By now Narcissa had given up on her magically pinned-up hair and ended the charm. Her long blond hair pooled down over her shoulders just as she saw her Draco exit the Hogwarts Express – and right behind him was Harry. Unmistakably so… he looked just like James Potter had at eleven. But it was also easy to see that the young boy was malnourished, he was way to skinny and pale. Both boys were chattering away while waiting for their luggage to be brought down by the older Slytherin students. Other houses never helped their younger students, only the sly and cunning Slytherins did – after all you couldn't start making alleys early enough and even the smallest favor done could be called upon later. Soon they had their bags – the large trunks could stay in Hogwarts, as they weren't required in Malfoy Manor.

Both parents greeted the children happily.

And in the end Christmas was just perfect, especially for Harry. It was the first time in his young life that he could remember that he got actual presents and not just some "new" old socks from uncle Vernon or a "new" hankie. All his friends from Hogwarts and such who hoped to gain his attention send him presents which ranked from new parchment of the finest type to an expensive pet snake (which he got with the reason that no Slytherin should have to live without one.). His new guardians where thrilled at the prospect. So was Harry, but for a different reason. He could understand his new pet as if it was a human being. The Malfoy's simply thought a snake was a fitting present for a young Slytherin. Draco got one as well.

As soon as they were back at Hogwarts Dumbledore tried to get Harry back under his thumb, claiming the Malfoy's were unfitting guardians for the icon of light and hope of the wizarding nation of Britain. He then tried to establish the Weasley family as Harry's guardians even though Harry didn't even really know them and couldn't hold a civil conversation with Ronald who was in his year and had almost had cursed the older twin boys for pranking the first year Slytherin girls. The fact that Daphne had had an allergic reaction to whatever the boys had used to ensure the girls lost all their hair. Madam Pomfrey had had to transfer the girl to St Mungo's as her condition got worse and worse.

So Lucius Malfoy was set on protecting his family which now included Harry. The man knew some facts about the almost 150 year old wizard that would make the blood of many citizens of the wizarding world boil. It took only a small notice delivered to the Headmaster of Hogwarts by the regal Malfoy family owl to shut the old man up. The idea of transferring guardianship was dropped immediately and they didn't hear a word about this hideous idea again.

All throughout the school (except for some Gryffindor students) Harry was well liked – and consequently so was Draco, seeing as they were always seen together. One big surprise for the Transfiguration Professor Minerva McGonagall was the fact that Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy and two of her shyest Gryffindors, Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom, seemed to have formed a kind of friendship – even though Hermione was a Muggleborn witch and the Malfoy's some of the most prominent Purebloods and had always been proud to announce this fact about them to the world. Never were they seen with anyone even remotely related to Muggles. At least until now.

So the rest of the term was spent in peace with many letters exchanged between Narcissa, Lucius, Draco and Harry. The end-of-term examinations didn't seem to be a problem for the four children. Hermione had seen to that and had even managed to help Gregory and Vincent to reach acceptable grades. All children were happy to go home now and spent some well deserved time with their families, relax a bit before the next term and get their energy levels back up again.

When they left the platform in London they promised each other again to write many letters over the summer, and hopefully they would manage to meet once or twice during the summer. They couldn't wait…

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Sooo... I know it's a tad short for a whole year. If you noticed something that didn't sum up or left you cofused, please let me know. I will start on their second year right away so I hope it won't take too long for me to update. Sooo... as Mrs. Sniffy would say: **Bring my ego down ;)**


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